


Cosmic Wanderers Nova

by wildheartsneverdie



Series: AU August [2]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: AU August, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Mecha, piloting a mech together as metaphor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25778620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildheartsneverdie/pseuds/wildheartsneverdie
Summary: 300 years since the Parnassus Fleet departed Earth.  300 years pursued by an mysterious alien race known only as the Shriekers.  300 years looking for a place to call home.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Series: AU August [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861510
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Cosmic Wanderers Nova

**Author's Note:**

> AU August continues! The prompt for this one is Bad End.

~~~305 Post Departure, Parnassus Fleet~~~

“Shriekers! Coming in hot!” A tinny voice shouts over coms.

“Alright! Just the way Galo Thymos likes ‘em!” Galo yanks on the controls of the Nova Techer, banking hard to the right. “You with me, Thyma?”

“Um, okay.” Thyma, his engine, hesitates. “Yeah. I can do this.” 

“Firing up engines!” Galo flips a row of switches on the dashboard of the Techer.

“F-firing up.” Thyma echoes with less enthusiasm.

Galo pulls back on the throttle. “Full speed ahead! Prepare to engage targets!”

Bracing her arms against the conduits inside the Techer’s engine pod, Thyma takes a deep breath. “Roger.”

And everything flickers out. The displays go dark, the engine pod dims and the display screen in front of Galo scatters into pixels before turning flat black. Galo lets out a frustrated groan, slumping back in the pilot’s chair.

“I’m sorry.” Thyma whispers from the engine pod behind Galo.

“Pilot Thymos, Engine Thyma.” The instructor’s voice comes in over coms. “Your sync ratios have dropped below protocol levels. Exiting test simulation.”

Overhead lights turn on inside the pilot bay and engine pod of the training module.

Galo pounds the button to open up their side of coms with his fist. “Come on! We nearly had it that time. Give us another chance!”

“This is your third simulation run today. Take a break and come back fresh next time.”

“We got this, don’t we, Thyma?” Galo turns back to the engine pod.

Thyma is already out of her seat, pulling the latch to the exit hatch. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” Tears stain her cheeks.

“Thym— Ugh!” Galo stands to go after her, but the seat harness snaps and holds him in place. He fumbles with the clasp to undo the harness and jumps out of the training module. Thyma is already halfway across the defense force testing arena. “Thyma!”

She doesn’t look back as she throws open a door and exits the arena.

“GALO!” Aina stops him only a few moments later. Her eyebrows furrow with annoyance. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going after Thyma.” Galo gestures at the door.

“That’s the girl’s locker room!” she sighs in exasperation. “Whatever it is can wait.”

“Uh, no, it can’t.” Galo tries to push pass Aina to the locker room. “I think she’s crying!”

Aina puts both arms up to stop him. Her arms and shoulders are surprisingly toned, but that’s one of the things Galo likes about her. “Yes. It can. I’ll talk to her, okay?”

Galo eyes the symbol next to the door. “Tell her it’s not her fault. We’ll get it next time.”

Grabbing Galo by the shoulders, she turns him around to face the boy’s locker room door. “Yes, yes. I got it. I’ll give her a Galo Thymos worthy pep talk.”

“Thanks, Aina.”

Unzipping the jacket of his flight suit, Galo steps through the doorway into the locker room. On autopilot, he navigates to the blue locker marked ‘THYMOS’ on a strip of masking tape. He shrugs off his jacket before sudden disappointment robs him of all his energy. Deflating, he slumps forward until his head rests against the cool metal of the locker.

“Tough day, huh?” Varys’ huge weight settles onto the bench next to his locker. He’s easily twice as tall and twice as muscular as any of the other pilot candidates.

Galo doesn’t have time to mope! He snaps the locker open and tosses the flight suit jacket inside. “Yeah. We start out real strong in simulations, but as soon as we start running combat sequences, Thyma just…” he shrugs. “Fizzles.”

“What, all that shouting doesn’t get her fired up?” Varys teases.

Remi joins the two of them, passing a water bottle to each of his fellow trainees. Always responsible Remi. “Don’t take it too hard. Meis and I had a rocky start at first.”

Galo glances across the locker room to the two Burnish engines. Currently, Meis and Gueira are wrestling and trying to get each other into headlocks. It’s not as if they couldn’t go over and talk to the engines, it’s just that they never do.

“You and Gueira never had any problems, did you?” Galo asks.

Varys shakes his head. “Nah. Little guy said I looked cool and that was that.”

“Oh man.” Galo bemoans. “I’m never gonna make it into a squadron.” He unzips his pants and tosses them into his locker as well.

“Whoa! Warn a guy before you go flashing your junk around!” Varys hops to his feet. 

Remi nods enthusiastic agreement.

“I’m not flashing my junk around!” Galo calls out to his rapidly retreating friends. “I’m wearing underwear!”

Galo mutters to himself as he grabs his civvies out of his locker and starts dressing. “You would be lucky to see my junk.” 

He doesn’t notice the sound of the locker room door swinging open, but he does notice when someone kicks the locker right next to his own, trapping him between the bank of lockers and a slender black-clad form.

“Thymos.” A cool voice inflects.

“Oh. Welcome back, Lio.” Galo leans back against the lockers to put some space between himself and the frowning boy. “Thought you were still in detention.”

“Boss!” Two voices belonging to Meis and Gueira cry nearly in unison.

“Don’t let me catch you making one of my engines cry.” Lio threatens.

“I didn’t— It was an accident!” Galo protests, putting his hands up to show just how harmless he is.

Lio holds his arm out, hand open, and a tiny pink flame sparks to life. He winces as the freeze bracelets around his wrists activate and ice travels up his arm. It’s not enough to snuff out his flame.

“You can’t do that in here.” Galo squares up his shoulders. “You’re a fire hazard!”

Lio closes his hand and the flame gutters out. Without another word, he drops his foot and turns to walk across the locker room to Meis and Gueira. Both of them wrap an arm around his shoulder and jostle him excitedly.

“You’re back!” Gueira exclaims happily. 

“When did you get back?” Meis asks.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Lio answers in a calm voice, as if he hadn’t been threatening Galo ten seconds before.

Galo lets out a breath and his shoulder slump. “That is one intense dude.”

“He spent three weeks in the Burnish detention facility for trying to burn down a Foresight Foundation office. I’d hate to have him for my enemy.” Remi observes as he sidles up again.

“Yeah, how’d you piss him off so bad?” Varys asks.

Galo has no idea. “Maybe he’s just mad about everything.”

~~~Classroom, Parnassus Academy, The Next Day~~~

“Oh man…” Galo finishes his juice box and crushes it before tossing it into the recycling bin. It hits the rim of the bin and bounces out. He jogs across the classroom to properly place his garbage in the receptacle. 

When he flops back at his desk, Galo toys with the second juice box he’d picked up as an apology present for Thyma. So far she hasn’t shown up to class.

Lucia sits at the desk in front of Galo, scrolling through the feed on her Fleet Access Pad. Everyone under 12 calls it a FAP, but Galo is a grown up now and calls it an access pad.

The door to the classroom slides open and Galo spins to face the source of the noise. “Thy— Oh, Aina, it’s just you.”

“Just me?” she asked as she slides into the desk across the aisle from him. “Wow, thanks.”

“Do girls like juice boxes?” Galo asks.

“What? Why are you asking me?” Aina looks at him quizzically.

“You’re a girl.” Galo gestures at the skirt of her uniform. “I have noticed, you know.”

“Hey! I’m a girl too!” Lucia looks up from her screen to protest.

Aina looks Galo over thoughtfully. “We like juice boxes as much as anyone else, I guess.”

Galo nods. “Cool.”

The door slides open again. “Thy-!” Galo cuts off when he sees not only Thyma, but Lio with her as well. He rarely bothers to show up to class, so why today of all days?! 

The two of them take their usual seats at the back of the class. Lio still has freeze bracelets around his wrists.

Lio… He can’t scare Galo! He gets up and marches to the back of the classroom. “Thyma.”

She looks up, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. “Yes?”

Next to her, Lio eyes him icily.

“Here.” He thrusts the juice box in her direction. “I’m sorry about yesterday! I’m sure we’ll make a good team.”

Hesitantly, she takes the juice from him. “Thank you.”

“You just need a little more self-confidence! So I thought of some confidence building exercises. Let’s do them together! You and me! A team!” Galo beams at her.

Lio snorts. “The last thing you need is more confidence.”

Thyma’s eyes slide from Galo to Aina, who has come over to join them. “I… that’s… I don’t think I can…”

“Well, we can do them tomorrow then! It’ll be fun.”

Thyma turns the juice box over in her hands, then holds it out to Galo. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I—”

“She asked me to be her pilot, Galo.” Aina adds apologetically. 

The words punch Galo directly in the gut. “Oh.”

“Galo…” Thyma takes a deep breath and continues in a steady voice. “I know you only asked me to be your engine because I’m the only one left. No one wants to get picked last.”

Galo stares at her without comprehension.

“Are you gonna drink that juice box or what?” Lucia asks.

~~~Galo’s Apt, That Night~~~

Galo stares up at the ceiling. It’s the same ceiling he’s seen every night since he’d been old enough to move from the group home to his own personal bunk. He doesn’t have much, but it’s close to the Academy and it’s home.

‘She asked me to be her pilot.’

Burnish only make up roughly 1% of the Fleet’s population. Candidate pilots far outweigh potential engines. If Thyma doesn’t want him, he’ll never be able to join the Parnassus Fleet Defense Force. 

Galo rolls over onto his side, clutching his stomach. 

~~~Baseball Field, Outside Parnassus Academy, The Next Day~~~

“Be my engine.”

On the field, a ball and bat connect with a metallic thwack.

On the bleachers, Lio looks up at Galo. “What?”

“Come on. You don’t have a pilot. I don’t have an engine.” He sits down next to Lio. “It works out perfectly!”

“No.”

Thwack.

“What? Why?” He scoots closer to Lio who scoots back. “Your icy blaze is the only match for my burning pilot’s soul!”

“The Foresight Foundation has a list of potential pilots. You’re not on it.” Lio answers coolly.

Thwack.

Lio gets to his feet. “My turn at bat is coming up.”

He leaves Galo alone on the bleachers.

~~~Classroom, Parnassus Academy, That Afternoon~~~

“Oh, man…” Galo slumps down in his chair far enough that his chin rests on the desk. “I don’t even have a consolation juice box…”

“Galo, what’s eating you, my dude?” Lucia turns to sit backwards in her chair. “You haven’t mentioned piloting once today.”

“What’s a pilot without an engine?” Galo mutters, his lip jutting out in a pout.

“You’re no fun like this.” She drums her fingers against her chin. “I have to do something, but no, I shouldn’t… It’s too dangerous…”

“What is?” Galo sits up, eyes wide with excitement.

“I don’t think you’re ready for this, Galo.” Lucia sighs dramatically and shakes her head.

Galo leans forward. “I’m ready for this!”

“Oo~ookaaay. If you’re suuure you’re ready.” Lucia grins. “I think I can show you my secret base.”

“Secret-” Galo imagines a tree house with a slide and rope ladder.

“Secret-” Galo imagines a domed building surrounding by barbed wire.

“Secret base?!” Galo imagines a bunker, deep underground.

“Uh-huh.” Lucia nods, pleased with Galo’s excitement. “Whenever I’m feeling bummed out, visiting my secret base always cheers me up.”

“I’ve never been to a secret base before!” Galo exclaims.

Galo trails after Lucia as the two of them leave the classroom. A couple of classmates run by in the hallway. Together, they go down a flight of stairs until they reach ground level.

“Where are we going?” Galo asks.

“You’ll see.”

They duck down an empty hallway and Lucia stops outside an electronically locked door marked ‘STAFF ONLY’. Pulling a pair of green-tinted goggles from her pocket, Lucia puts them on and wiggles her fingers over her access pad. “Hold on this will only take a minute.”

“Are we going to get in trouble?” Galo eyes the lock warily.

“If it was easy to get to, it wouldn’t be a secret.” Lucia answers. The lock clicks and she tugs the door open. “After you, Galo.”

Galo steps through the door. “Your secret base is a stairwell?”

“Hush it. Let me see your access pad.” Lucia holds her hand out.

Galo pats his pockets before retrieving his access pad. He passes it over to Lucia. She taps it against her own access pad, then hands it back to Galo. “There. I’ve programmed your access pad with code to the door.”

“Cool.”

“Unless you annoy me and then I’m changing it.” Lucia cackles as she leads the way down.

Together, they descend the stairwell, the yellow lights overhead casting long shadows. The sound of their feet on the metal stairs echoes through the chamber.

“Why so many stairs?” Galo wonders.

“I founds this when I was looking at old blueprints for the Academy.” Lucia says as they continue down. “The school was built on an old storage hangar. And when I say old, I mean oo~oold. Like home planet old.”

“Earth?” Galo pipes in.

“Naturally, curiosity got the better of me and I had to check it out.”

At last, the stairwell hits bottom. Both of them stand outside another door, the sign on the front worn beyond legibility. Lucia reached for the doorknob. “Behold, my secret base!”

As she throws the door open, one by one lighting banks turned on in the room past the door to reveal — a giant mech! Jaw open in shock, Galo walks through the door as if drawn by a magnet, his eyes fixed on the mech. For once, Galo is speechless.

“You like it?” Lucia skips past him to lean against the low scaffolding that surrounds the mech.

“Lucia, do you know what this is?” Galo’s voice is a near whisper.

“Yeah, an ancient, rusty Earth mech.” She looks up at it.

“This isn’t just an Earth mech!” Galo’s voice rises in volume with excitement. “This is a Deus X Machina! Without the Prometech Pods that powered it, we wouldn’t have the Gallant System or the Nova Techers! This is the progenitor of modern mech design!”

“You’re really into this, huh?” Lucia pulls herself up to perch on the top of the scaffold.

“Of course I am! My dad was a pilot and his dad was a pilot.” Galo leans against the scaffolding next to Lucia’s feet, his eyes still fixed on the mech looming over them. “And ever since I was saved during the Sector 5 fire, I wanted to grow up to be the kind of person that saves others.”

Lucia taps her access pad against the scaffolding, a low metal noise filling the cavernous room. “You’ll find someone that’s a better match.”

“Hah?”

“With your determination, I’m sure you’ll become a pilot. It’s not like you to give up just because you hit a little obstacle.”

“You’re right! I can’t give up now.” Galo cranes his neck up, trying to see the face of the mech. “Do you think it’s still operational?”

“Dude, it’s like 300 years old.”

~~~A Montage~~~

Lio walks to school with Meis and Gueira. Galo jumps out of a bush, startling the group.

“Lio. Be my engine!” Galo shouts.

Lio crosses the road and continues to school on the opposite sidewalk.

~~~

Lio stands in line to get lunch with Thyma. Galo is dressed in an apron and hairnet, dishing up food. “Be my engine!”

Lio drops his tray and leaves the line.

~~~

Lio opens the door from the classroom into hallway. Galo stands outside in a sandwich board which reads ‘B my engin!’

Lio slams the door shut and jumps out the window. He lands on his feet on the school grounds below, startling the other students outside.

~~~Parnassus Academy Rooftop, Late Afternoon~~~

Galo lets himself out onto the rooftop, closing the door quietly behind him. Another figure already stands by the railing. There’s no mistaking Lio’s slender build or bob haircut. 

“Galo. Stop.” Lio says without turning around. “I’m not going to be your engine.”

“Everyone else went to the training arena.” Galo walks out to the railing to stand next to Lio.

Lio rolls his eyes and looks away.

“Why don’t you want to be my engine?” Galo asks. “We’d make a great team!”

Lio doesn’t answer.

“If it’s because of the Foresight Foundation list, I can talk to Kray! Let’s try at least once!”

Abruptly, Lio whirls to face Galo. “Do you know what happened to my last pilot?”

Galo shakes his head.

“He died. Right in front of me when a Shrieker lanced our mech.” Lio clenches his fists. “…I haven’t been able to sync with anyone since.”

Galo ducks his head. “I’m sorry.”

“I can’t do it again.” Lio says softly. “Not with you.”

Galo opens his mouth to respond, but sirens and a blue flashing light cuts him off. “Attention, citizens. This is a Level 1 alert. Shriekers are approaching the fleet. Please proceed to the nearest shelter. I repeat. This is a Level 1 alert. Shriekers are approaching the fleet. Please proceed to the nearest shelter.”

“Ugh, come on.” Galo itches to be among those fighting the Shriekers, but instead he has to run and hide in the basement with everyone else.

“It’s close.” Lio stares up at the ceiling of the Parnassus itself.

“What do you mean?”

Lio continues as if he hadn’t heard Galo. “They must not have picked it up until it was past the perimeter.”

“How can you—”

With a sound of screeching metal, the Shrieker rockets through the ceiling of the Parnassus. Red and orange energy trailing behind, it shoots through the interior of the ship, landing with explosive force just outside the school gate.

Galo grabs Lio’s wrist. “We gotta go!”

The Shrieker rises to it’s full height. This is the closest Galo has ever been to the real thing, although he’s seen pictures and simulations. It’s black with flashing white lights along it’s many long limbs. With almost a chime-like noises, it extends one limb as it pulls itself toward the school.

“Lio!” Galo shouts.

With a shudder from the Shrieker, a horrifying wail pierces the air and lights flicker out as electronic devices fail. Lio and Galo suddenly find themselves in near total darkness, the only lights from pale yellow emergency units.

Lio snaps out of his trance. “How many people are in the school?”

The two are starkly lit as the Shrieker fires three orange energy pulses. Each one lands with a successive boom, the last one directly hitting the school itself. Even from the roof, Galo hears screaming coming from inside the school.

“I promised I’d save everyone!” Galo’s face fills with determination. “But I can’t do it with you. Be my engine, Lio.”

Lio hesitates for a moment before he nods.

~~~Lucia’s Secret Base, Moments Later~~~

“TADA!” The door into storage hangar swings open.

“What is it?” Lio is markedly less impressed with the Deus X Machina than he should be.

“It’s a mech!” Galo beams. “With this, we can defend the school.”

“This thing belongs in a scrap heap.” Lio easily climbs over the scaffolding and gives the old mech a kick.

“Hey!” Galo races over to join him. “I need you to power this thing!”

Lio looks doubtful.

“No one likes to be picked last! But this isn’t me picking you last!” Galo declares as he puts his hands on his hips. “This is fate picking both of us first! We were meant to be together, Lio!”

“There’s just one problem. We’re deep in the guts of the Parnassus by now. How are we getting this hunk of junk up to the Shrieker?” Lio asks coolly.

“That’s where I come in.” Lucia says from the door.

“Lucia!” Galo cheers.

She grins. “Looks like I had the same crazy idea as you two. I’ll be your gal on the ground.” She blows dust off an ancient looking console at the side of the hangar.

“Let’s do this, Lio.” Galo holds his fist up for a bump.

Lio eyes it contemptuously and turns around. Galo holds his fist up a moment or two longer, in case Lio changes his mind, before dropping it.

A few moments later, both Lio and Galo are inside the Deus X Machina. The control panel is different than Galo remembers from his training runs in the Nova Techer, but close enough that he can figure it out. “Firing up engines!”

Inside the engine pod, Lio grasps a conduit with each hand. “Firing up engines.” Pinkish fire flows from his hands into the Deus X Machina and the machine stirs to life. The ice bracelets around Lio’s wrists activate, but Lio’s fire is too strong and they shatter, falling to the ground.

“It works!!” Galo exclaims.

“I can’t believe it.” Lucia mutters as the console in front of her lights up, then she adds with considerably more enthusiasm. “It works!”

“Okay, we have to figure out a cool catch phrase to say before we start the battle!” Galo turns to Lio. “Like ‘Prepare to face the fires of my burning soul!’ or ‘You’ll never defeat this team!’ or something like that.”

“Beginning launch sequence. 3-2-1. BEEP!” Lucia smashes a button on the console with her fist.

“Whooooooaaa!” Gravity forces Galo back into his seat as the Deus X Machina rapidly ascends through multiple levels of the Parnassus. Suddenly, they clear the launch chute mere blocks from the Shrieker as it advances toward the school. 

Galo takes a deep breath. “Hey! We’re the Parnassus Academy Defense Force! We’re the most awesome team up of the century and we’re going to kick your butt!”

Episode 1: I promised I’d save everyone  
End

Galo: What?!?! We ended right before the big battle!

Lucia: In the biz, that’s what we call ‘Leave them wanting more’.

Galo: What biz is that?

Lio: Was ‘kick your butt’ really the best catch phrase you could come up with?

Galo: Lio! I’m going to visit the Burnish sector! 

Next time, Episode 2: The twisty turns of fate brought us together

**Author's Note:**

> The next time is a joke! I’m not really planning to write more. (But if I did, there would definitely be an episode where Galo and Lio have to learn to get along… possibly involving synchronized DDR.)
> 
> The prompt for this one was “Bad End” so I ran with the idea of what would happen if Lio and Galo weren’t around to stop Kray from abandoning Earth. And then I just decided to write it like it was the first episode of a mech anime.
> 
> Edit: I changed the titled because I think it was slightly misleading in that this isn't an Evangelion crossover. (I just thought calling it promaregelion was funny.)


End file.
